Category: News

{{A Helicopter RH44 that belongs to Akagera Aviation a Rwandan based Aviation Company specializing in helicopter solutions, crashed yesterday at around 2:35pm at Nyamagabe district injuring the pilot and two passengers, igihe.com has reliably learnt.}}

The Helicopter was carrying 2 passengers including a Nigerian national and a British national.

The injured occupants were all rushed to Kigali at King Faisal hospital with minor injuries sustained during the crash, a source told {Igihe.com}.

The source declined some information saying that, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB); no one is allowed to give the information before the investigation is carried out to know the cause of the accident.

NTSB is an independent investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents.

National Civil Aviation Authority has also declined information and referred us to the Minister of Transport, and reaching the Minister is still futile.

According to the National Police Spokesperson Supt. Theos Badege confirmed the accident.

“We confirm the accident happened in the area and good enough there was a health center around and all three who got minor injuries were taken for first aid and later they were transferred to Kigali by the Army Helicopter,” he said.

He added that for the case of the cause of the accident; we should clarify from the Aviation Authority.

{{A shortage of funds has forced the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) to halve its food rations for tens of thousands of Congolese refugees in Rwanda effective from September1 reliable information indicates.}}

“This is a very difficult decision, but we currently do not have sufficient funds to provide the full recommended daily allowance of 2,100 kilocalories to more than 54,000 Congolese refugees in Rwanda,” said Abdoulaye Balde, WFP representative in Rwanda.

The lack of funds is particularly affecting the procurement of Super Cereal, a blend of maize, soy and micronutrients that is used in the programs designed for HIV patients and malnourished children.

The agency needs the urgent support of donors to cover a critical shortfall of 2,250 tons of assorted commodities valued at $3.8 million, which will enable it to continue to feed the refugees, who live in three camps in Rwanda, until the end of this year.

The agency warns that reduced nutritional support could lead to higher malnutrition rates among the refugee population, especially children, pregnant women and nursing mothers.

The DR Congo and Rwanda governments have in the recent past settled the political misunderstandings and jointly repatriated their 150,000 nationals taking refuge in each other’s country, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Officials from the two countries met in Goma, in North Kivu province in eastern DRC, in a UNHCR facilitated gathering to discuss the first steps to be taken.

Some 100,000 Rwandans that had been sheltering in eastern DRC since the 1994 genocide that claimed nearly one million lives returned to their home country and apparently the humanitarian conditions in both former archrival states are conducive for their citizens.

The cement bags are on high demand in Rwanda following the ban of polythene bags in the country. The Cement packaging paper is recycled for use in making of shopping paper bags.

{{Hundreds of Community Health Workers (CHW) selected from 11 Sectors in Gasabo district under the patronage of the Maternal and Child Integrated Program (CHIP) finished two day training on better treatment of patients in their communities.}}

over 640 health workers were trained on malnutrition, how to sensitize and reduce the number of women who give birth from their homes, family planning issues and about testing and counseling services.

Speaking to {igihe.com} Gasabo district Deputy Mayor in charge of Social Affairs Louise Uwimana said, “We are expecting a lot from CHWs in dealing with health problems and their roles have even increased on the numbers of health performances in the district.”

According to district health performance of last year dealing with poor feeding, the numbers rose from 69% to 87%. To reach the above rates, the district launched a campaign to sensitize mothers on better feeding of babies.

CHIP representative, Laban Tsuma said that outside Rwanda people are recognizing the good work of CHWs that is happening in Rwanda .

Florence Uwimana a trainee and resident of Murambi, Ruhango, Gisozi Sector and a CHW at Kagugu Health Center noted,“We were trained on how to fight child death rates and how to deal with parents who die while giving birth, and also about malnutrition among others.

“The training has helped me mostly in treating children who are under five years and I got extra experience as compared to what I had before,” she underscored.

She also explained that they have been getting complexity when trying to enter into some houses because they had no identifications but during the closure of the event, they were promised to rectify the problem.

The rest of CHWs from four sectors of the district will also be trained on the same program soon according to the Deputy Mayor in charge of Social Affairs.

{{The Rwanda National Police has denied allegations of harassing members of the Regional Human Rights League in the Great Lakes region (LDGL).}}

In a communiqué released late Tuesday by LDGL accused the Police’s Criminal Investigation Department of questioning and detaining two of its members namely Joseph Sanane and Epimack Kwokwo who are of Congolese nationality.

However, according to Police spokeperson Sup. Theos Badege, the two were arrested following a claim from one of the LDCL members who filed a case accusing the two of funds embezzlement.

“Investigations are progressing even though we have released them but they are not allowed to leave the country until we have a conclusion in the investigation,” he remarked.

According to the LDGL press release, the two were last week on Friday stopped by Rwandan border officials at Akanyaru on their way to Burundi for a management committee meeting to prepare the annual general meeting.

“Both were detained and taken to the capital, Kigali for questioning, Kwokwo was released in the same evening while Sanane was detained and released the following day,” the statement read.

{{The Kigali Main Cemetery commonly known as iwabo wa twese that has been used as the burial yard for Kigali residents, is located in Remera Sector, Gasabo district is set to close this exact week and will be demolished and put back to use after a period of 20 years.}}

Exclusively speaking to the Gasabo district Mayor, Willy Ndizeye noted, “we are relocating the site because it’s already full and we are now shifting it to Rusororo, Kabuga (a Kigali city suburb).” This is approximately 7km off from Kigali International Airport.

{{Tuesday,a pair of judges put an end to the sensational sexual assault case against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, setting him free after prosecutors argued the hotel housekeeper accusing the French diplomat of sexual assault couldn’t be trusted.}}

The decision to drop the charges in a case that has attracted global attention as a cauldron of sex, violence, power and politics had been widely expected. Prosecutors filed court papers Monday saying that they could not trust the word of the hotel housekeeper accusing the French diplomat of attempted rape.

“Our inability to believe the complainant beyond a reasonable doubt means, in good faith, that we could not ask a jury to do that,” assistant district attorney Joan Illuzzi-Orbon said in formally recommending the case be dismissed.

Strauss-Kahn arrived at court in a six-car motorcade and was greeted by protesters wielding signs carrying such messages as “DSK treats women like property” and “Put the rapist on trial — not the victim.” The shouting could be heard inside the courtroom.

He appeared resolute in the courtroom, wearing a dark gray suit, blue shirt and striped tie. He smiled and shook hands with his biographer as his wife, journalist Anne Sinclair, sat nearby. The couple left court without speaking to reporters but issued a statement in English afterward.

“These past two and a half months have been a nightmare for me and my family,” he said. “I want to thank all the friends in France and in the United States who have believed in my innocence, and to the thousands of people who sent us their support personally and in writing. I am most deeply grateful to my wife and family who have gone through this ordeal with me. …

“We will have nothing further to say about this matter and we look forward to returning to our home and resuming something of a more normal life,” he said.
Later, he appeared outside the posh Tribeca town house where he was held under house arrest until July — when prosecutors first publicly admitted they had doubts about the woman’s credibility. He summed up the statement in French and was mobbed by reporters.

A news conference with the district attorney was postponed after a 5.9-magnitude earthquake in Virginia was felt in New York City.

State Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus said he would dismiss the case, but first wanted an appeals court to decide whether a special prosecutor should be appointed. Shortly before the dismissal ruling, Obus had denied the request to appoint a special prosecutor, saying there was nothing that would disqualify Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance from heading the case. Within hours, the appeals court agreed.

The maid from the West African nation of Guinea claimed that the one-time French presidential contender attacked her and sexually assaulted her when she arrived to clean his luxury suite May 14. When prosecutors brought charges, they touted their evidence as strong but later noted that DNA evidence didn’t prove a forced encounter. Strauss-Kahn has denies the maid’s allegations all along.

The 33-year-old maid, Nafissatou Diallo, has sued Strauss-Kahn and came forward in a series of interviews with media after it became clear prosecutors were losing faith in her credibility. The Associated Press does not usually name people who say they are victims of sexual assault unless they come forward publicly, as she has done.

Diallo did not attend the hearing. Her attorney Kenneth Thompson said outside court that she had been abandoned.

“No man, no matter how much power, money and influence he has, has a right to sexually assault a woman,” Thompson said. “We are disappointed that District Attorney Vance apparently does not believe in equal justice under the law and has denied an innocent woman a day in court.”

Thompson’s partner addressed members of the French media in Paris, expressing similar concern and frustration. Diallo’s lawyers had no other plans to appeal.

Illuzzi-Orbon said prosecutors’ decision to drop the case “does not mean that we, in any way, condone the defendant’s behavior.”

On the streets of Guinea’s capital, Conakry, and on its airwaves and on the editorial pages of its major newspapers, opinions were mixed. A small and unscientific sample indicated that women tended to back Diallo, while men questioned her version of events.

“Since the beginning of time, the powerful have always won. Nafissatou Diallo didn’t stand a chance against DSK,” said Pepe Bimou, a computer programmer. “The only possible outcome was that she would lose.”

The stakes were high for Strauss-Kahn, who resigned his IMF post, spent nearly a week behind bars and then spent possibly hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for house arrest, as well as for Vance, who was handling the biggest case he has had during his 18 months in office.

The 62-year-old diplomat was arrested after Diallo, said he chased her down, grabbed her crotch and forced her to perform oral sex.

There is no dispute that something happened in the room; DNA evidence showed his semen on her work clothes and prosecutors on Monday revealed additional details that led them to believe a sexual encounter occurred. Strauss-Kahn’s attorneys argued it wasn’t forced.

“At the very first appearance … I said in open court that this was not a forcible encounter,” Strauss-Kahn’s attorney Benjamin Brafman said outside court. “You can engage in inappropriate behavior, perhaps, but that is much different than a crime. And this case was treated as a crime — when it was not.”

In Guinea, people identifying themselves as relatives expressed deep disappointment at the prosecutors’ call to drop the case.

“I don’t think my cousin lied about DSK,” said Tidiane Diallo who owns a tea shack in Labe, near the village where Nafissatou was born. “Maybe there is a still a chance that they will find a resolution to this problem. You can’t tell Nafissatou Diallo to give up on the criminal case.”

Like many sexual assault cases, in which the accused and the accuser are often the only eyewitnesses, the Strauss-Kahn case hinged heavily on the maid’s believability.

Early on, prosecutors stressed that Diallo had provided “a compelling and unwavering story” replete with “very powerful details” and buttressed by forensic evidence. The police commissioner said seasoned detectives had found her credible.

But then prosecutors said July 1 they’d found the maid had told them a series of troubling falsehoods, including a persuasive but phony account of having been gang-raped in her native Guinea. She said she was echoing a story she’d told to enhance her 2003 bid for political asylum, but there’s no mention of it on her written application, prosecutors said in Monday’s filing. She told interviewers she was raped in her homeland under other circumstances.

Prosecutors continued investigating and said Monday they uncovered further damning information that lead them to believe they couldn’t ask a jury to believe her story.

Diallo has maintained that she feared what would happen if she told them the truth about her asylum application, and that the events have been taken out of context, and do not change the fact that she was wrongly attacked by Strauss-Kahn.

Her attorneys said they would aggressively litigate the civil case — though they expect it would take two years to go to court.

Meanwhile, another sex assault case in France against Strauss-Kahn continues. Novelist Tristane Banon says Strauss-Kahn tried to rape her in 2002 and has filed a new criminal complaint in France. Strauss-Kahn’s lawyers have called her account “imaginary.”

Banon’s mother was displeased with the move to drop the New York case. “I am revolted and indignant,” Anne Mansouret, a regional Socialist official, told Europe-1 radio.

{Source:Wire story}

{{Over 1,500 residents of Gasabo district have signed an affidavit to petition against Ishema Newspaper following its controversial story which the media fraternal umbrella termed as “blasphemous article that ridiculed the person of President and undermining the government.”}}

Speaking to {igihe.com} on behalf of the residents, Ancilla Mukarubuga (pictured above) a Peace Activist from Gasabo district noted, “Rwandan government respects the press freedom and independence and other fundamental rights but the media practitioners are under the obligation to enjoy the freedom within the confines of the law.

“Journalists must always review their stories before publishing and misleading the public and taking us back into the worst history,” She pointed out.

In a 3 page press release issued in Kinyarwanda on August 22 and signed by Ancilla Mukarubuga states,“It’s a pity that a journalist can decide to openly abuse and humiliate the President in with such an inhumane photo comparison.

“This press release accompanied by an affidavit signed by 1,500 aggrieved Gasabo District residents seriously protest against the author and the ISHEMA newspaper and any other media with similar malicious motives against the person of the president for whom the Rwandan population voted overwhelmingly” the release reads in part.

The residents underscored that such an act insults and undermines the person of President, against the constitution and the laws governing media.

{igihe.com} was availed the press release attached with copy of the document bearing all signatures.

“We are also against its article published in ISHEMA Issue No.25 which was called ‘Special Pardon’ that was confusing the public by its leader Fidele Gakire,” they added.

They also said, “We therefore request all media houses and Media High Council itself to take serious punitive measures against the culprits who were knowingly the publication of malicious article.”

The residents also urged other citizens and other peace loving residents to shun the publication and any other unethical publications that negate the socio-economic achievement the country has attained under the leadership of the president and his team.

The letter was copied to the MHC, the political parties, schools and to the international community.

Gakire fidel the managing director of Ishema newspaper admitted to {Igihe.com}, “We never requested for the advice from anyone when publishing the “Special Pardon issue and all this should be a gone story. To me their petition is negligible and such people should stop confusing media.”

In its conclusion the release requests the media fraternity and competent public institutions including the public prosecutions to administer punitive measures against ISHEMA publications based on the rules and regulations governing the media.

When contacted Media High Council Executive Secretary Patrice Mulama said he had not yet read the petitioning letter though it was already submitted to the MHC offices. He promised to give his comment after reading the petition.

According to Gasabo District Mayor, Willy Ndizeye, “Iam aware of the petition and its the right of citizens to present their views on any issue.”

{{RDB’s environmental specialists at Nyungwe National Park are in fear of environmental and natural resource destruction within the national park.}}

The controversy between the environmentalists and MININFRA resulted from the ongoing process of a 32km road rehabilitation from Pindura, a junction at the main road within the park connecting to Bweyeye Sector at the Burundi boarder that is meant to be widened up to 7 meters.

The road construction had been put to halt for almost two years due to misunderstandings between road contactors under the MININFRA and the park’s management authority which is under Rwanda Development Board.

Speaking to igihe.com at Bweyeye Sector, Patrice Nzamuye the Nyungwe National Park protection and Law Enforcement Warden noted, “There will be a lot of negative consequences affecting natural resources like falling debris and degradation that will contaminate the river tributaries.”

“There will be cutting down trees, querying murram within the park among others which is really against the law on environmental conservation” He stressed,” he added.

Nzamuye says that he is not opposing the road rehabilitation since it will be helpful to many people living in the area but there should be a clear study and with cooperation between the concerned parties to safeguard the environment as well as rehabilitating the road.

“The Ministry of Infrastructure should sit down with us as environmentalists and formulate possible ways of rehabilitating this road without any negative consequencies,” Nzamuye said.

Fidele Ruziganderwe who is in charge of Monitoring and Evaluation at the Rwanda Wildlife Conservation Society said, “The National Park is so important not only to our country but also the whole world in terms of preserving ecosystem, promoting tourism sector among others and continued destruction will be a big loss to our country and the world in general.”

According to him 70% of the Rwanda’s natural water arise from Nyungwe national part and any contamination will be a big challenge.

Juvenal Harerimana a resident of Bweyeye sector in Rusizi district urges, “Government should help us and make this road finished because the transport here is a big challenge to all of us as the residents of this area.”

“Two heads are better than one, so let leaders from the two parties come to the plea so that the problem can get rectified because both the road and the national park are all important to anyone of us,” Harerimana added.

For a person to walk from Pindura to Bweyeye it takes over 7hrs, riding bicycles takes approximately 3hrs and hiring a motorcycle costs Rwf7000, while one using a car, the 32kms takes almost 2hrs drive.

“Our produce is not accessed to the market just because of this ditched road and sometimes, one to go to Cyangugu has to pass through Burindi and then connect there, which is difficult to those people that do not have boarder pass permits,” Jean Pierre Twagirayezu told {igihe.com}.

Bweyeye Sector officials argue that, as the Minister of Natural Resources Stanislas Kamanzi had confirmed earlier, the road construction should be done and materials like murram should be got from the national park.

What does the top brass officials from two parties attribute towards the saga?
Rose Mukankomeje, the Director General REMA says, “We are not against Rwanda’s development but we also have to protect natural resources and ensure the sustainable management.”

“It’s over 60% of the rain we receive in Rwanda that come from Nyungwe and that’s why we have to manage it carefully as Rwanda’s heart.”

“During the meeting with MININFRA, we had agreed to go to this area together and find well established sites where to get murram and after they were supposed to show environmental management plan to us but when the team went there, MININFRA’s technical team did not come into agreement with us just because they don’t want to comply with us,” Mukankomeje added.

“For us we don’t want conflicts with MININFRA because the road is also for our people but we need a well defined policy over the project with a clear document presented,” she pointed out.

MININFRA’s Minister of State in charge of Transport noted, “For us we followed procedures as required and we even came into agreement that materials for the road project should come from within the park.”

“The environmentalists should conduct training to the road contractors upon the environment policy instead of stopping the road construction.”

Speaking to the MINIRENA’s Minister is still futile but we shall keep you updated upon the issue” The minister said.

{{What does the law say about the issue?}}

According to the organic law n. 04/2005 of 08/04/2005 that determines the modalities of protection, conservation and promotion of environment in Rwanda article 29 provides: “no competent authority, in accordance with the existing laws, can issue permission for the construction in cases where such constructions may degrade environment.”

Article 31 obliges “Every government project or private individual activities can not be permitted to operate if they are contrary to their plan and shall aim at considering the strategies of conservation of environment as provided by the law”.

{{The son of Libya’s embattled president whom the international media had generally reported to be under arrest and detention by Libyan rebels and more so confirmed by the International Criminal Court, has re-emerged as a free man amidst thousands of supporters in the Libyan Capital, Tripoli.}}

Saif al-Islam previously seen as successor to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi is serving as prime minister in his father’s government.

Saif visited the Tripoli hotel where foreign journalists are staying to declare that the government was winning the battle against the rebels.

Saif whose beard has overgrown as opposed to his clean shaven trademark image, appeared in jubilant mood flashing the V for victory sign. He later took journalists to his father’s Bab al-Aziziyah stronghold. Television footage
showed Saif smiling, waving and shaking hands with supporters.

“We broke the back of the rebels. It was a trap. We gave them a hard time, so we are winning,” Saif said.

“Take up arms today, take up arms today,” Saif told loyalists waiting to be given weapons. “Inshallah (God willing) we will attack the rats today,” he said to cheers.

In an audio broadcast on Sunday on state TV, Gaddafi said he would stay in Tripoli “until the end.” There has been speculation, however, he might seek refuge in his home region around Sirte, or abroad.

In a sign Gaddafi allies were still determined to fight, NATO said government forces fired three Scud-type missiles from the area of Sirte toward the rebel-held city of Misrata.

Bab al-Aziziyah, a huge complex where some believe Gaddafi might be hiding, was the focal point of fighting in Tripoli.

“I don’t imagine the Bab al-Aziziyah compound will fall easily and I imagine there will be a fierce fight,” Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, spokesman for the rebel National Transitional Council, said in an interview aired by Al-Jazeera.

Emerging reports from the battle front indicate that Libyan rebels have early today clashed with an army convoy coming from the city of Sirte, killing tens of Gaddafi’s troops. The reports have not said the exact place where the clash has happened. Sirte was heavily bombed by NATO just before rebel forces moved into Tripoli.